Friday Night Lights Subject James 'Boobie' Miles Headed to Prison

One of the former Permian High School football players chronicled in H.G. Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights and portrayed in the film adaptation is headed back to prison.

James Earl Miles, better known to his teammates, friends and fans as "Boobie," received a 13-year prison sentence from an Ector County jury for failing to comply with his sex offender registration requirements on Monday, according to the Odessa American.

Miles' sex offender status stems from an aggravated sexual assault he committed in June 1999. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. Following his release, the court required him to register his status as a sex offender. He failed to do so in January 2022, and a grand jury indicted him the following July.

According to court records, Miles is still awaiting trial on two family violence charges stemming from a different incident. Odessa Police responded to a 911 call from Miles' former wife, who said that he was choking her. Police found Miles' ex-wife unconscious in a locked car parked in the driveway. Police reported that she had bloodshot eyes, red marks on her neck and injuries on her right hand and face and had trouble speaking to officers once she regained consciousness.

The woman was taken to Odessa Regional Medical Center where she later told investigators that she was arguing with Miles when he threw her on the bed and started strangling her. She also says that he hit her in the face.

Miles was still in the house when police arrived and refused to cooperate with the responding officers. Police sent a canine unit into the house to subdue Miles, for which he later received treatment. Police also found more than 7 ounces of marijuana in 18 packages, a gun cleaning kit and bullets for a .38 special revolver.

Investigators learned that Miles' ex-wife had a protective order filed against him and that he had a history of 16 assault- and drug-related charges on his record.

Miles was a star running back for the Permian High School Panthers and was featured prominently in Bissinger's book. The author revisited some of the chief characters in his critically acclaimed novel 25 years after its release for Sports Illustrated. Miles was serving his sentence in the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont for a probation violation for aggravated assault for hitting someone in the head with an empty beer bottle.

According to Bissinger, Miles was abused by a relative and lived in foster homes until an uncle took him into his home. Miles played running back for the Panthers' 1987–88 football season, rushing over 1,300 yards and attracting the attention of some of the biggest collegiate football programs in the country. He injured his leg the following season and required arthroscopic surgery. He tried several times to return to the field with other schools to regain his lost shot in football glory.

"I could never just pick up the pieces," Miles told Bissinger in 2015. "Every time I thought I could get it together, it just fell apart. I just let it happen. I didn't try to stay strong. Whatever happens happens, is how I took it."